Green Lights at Stop Signs
by EphemeralCat
Summary: GoGo has always been good at using her speed as a way to deal with her problems. It's not as easy to cope with things when running away isn't an option.
1. Never Again

For her tenth birthday, all Leiko Tanaka wanted was the black and yellow bike she always saw in the shop window in the nice part of town. The expensive bike was just a bit too big for her tiny frame and definitely cost more money than her parents would be willing to spend on her, but that didn't prevent her from giving it a longing glance every time she passed the store on her way home from school, dreaming of riding it down the street as fast as she could.

She dropped hints about wanting the bike for her birthday, but it was no surprise to her when the date finally came around that her parents hadn't gotten her anything. Leiko was pretty sure the two of them didn't even remember it was her birthday anyways. Those thoughts didn't keep her from giving the two adults expectant looks (maybe they were planning a surprise?) that slowly turned into disappointment as the day went on.

Her parents were fighting a lot that day, more than usual, and her upset looks were enough to send her father over the edge into his full blown fury.

"And just what the fuck is your problem, you ungrateful brat?" her father demanded.

Leiko cringed.

"Well it's just that, um…it's my birthday today, and I was sort of hoping I was going to get that bike I talked about or something…" she mumbled, shrinking into herself more as her father towered over her.

She got something, but it wasn't what she had hoped for.

Confused and already aching from the bruises forming where her father's fists and boot covered feet had collided with her small frame, Leiko crouched against the wall until the man's attention went to her mother, and then she ran to her room.

That was the last time she asked for anything.

* * *

><p>A few weeks after her thirteenth birthday, Leiko's mother wordlessly left during the middle of the night, and from that point on she never saw any side to her father except for the enraged one.<p>

She held her arms over her face the next morning as he screamed profanities at her and beat her, face blank as she took the abuse from him, then packed her backpack and went to school. That night she avoided coming home until 7 pm, and her father was drunk in front of the TV.

"Where the fuck've youbeen. You tryna leave this family too?" he slurred, getting to his feet.

"I was at a friend's." she replied, deadpan, eyes narrowed at the man in challenge. She'd made a decision that day that he would never lay his hands on her again.

He didn't like that look in her eyes.

Fist swinging at her, she scoffed and moved back, watching him stumble, which only made him angrier so that he charged.

At that, she ran.

Speeding up the stairs, she took them two at a time as he bolted after her. GoGo headed straight for her room and slammed the door, locking it with a satisfying click.

"You fuckin' bitch! Get out here right now, I'm yer fuckin' father, you don't slam the door in my face." he snarled. His fists pounded against the door for a while before she heard him let out a belch and ambled away, the creak of the stairs letting her know he had gone back to his booze and shitty movies.

From then on, Leiko learned that she needed to run from her troubles.

* * *

><p>There were two things seventeen year old Leiko knew she excelled at. Building vehicles (especially fast ones), and riding them as fast as she could. She'd started building her first motorcycle at sixteen, hidden away inside of an old warehouse in the shitty town she lived in. She'd designed an engine that allowed her to max out at more than 250mph without overburdening her speed machine, and she'd sneak out of the house at three and four in the morning to blaze down forgotten interstate roads.<p>

In those moments of unimaginable speed and exhilaration while riding the black and yellow vehicle, Leiko felt free.

All of her time was dedicated to her learning everything she could and building or test driving the motorcycle. She was obsessed with physics and engineering, and had secretly graduated high school a year early (something she hadn't told her father). She'd already applied to an engineering program at a university far away in San Fransokyo and had been accepted on a full scholarship, and she planned to start classes there in two months. Now it was just a matter of leaving her father behind.

She had no friends, only a journal to talk to, and that book of paper was almost her downfall when she forgot it at home one night as she left for the warehouse. Leiko got back at four am and found her father waiting for her by the door, clutching her journal. He knew she had a motorcycle, he knew she planned to leave, he even knew she was a lesbian.

"You think you can just walk out on me like your ma did you fuckin' dyke? I don't think so. I'm gonna have the scrap company pick up your stupid ass motorcycle tomorrow, and you can just fuckin' forget about going to that fancy university in San Fran-Sok-Yo. You're stayin right here and working for my company and can start picking up the fucking slack around this household!" he shouted, grabbing the small teenager by the arm and slamming her against the wall.

Leiko had long ago hidden herself behind a mask of apathy and isolation, but something in her snapped in that moment as she imagined her dreams being crushed, the idea of never leaving this nightmare filled town haunting her.

"I'm not fucking staying her with you, you fucking prick! And you will never…"

Her knee slammed upwards into his crotch.

"Fucking…"

He keeled over and she shoved him away from her, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Touch me again."

Adrenaline pounded through her body and she forced the cacophony of panicked voices in her head to go silent as she blazed up the stairs, headed for her place of solace for the last time as she slammed and locked the door, grabbing her backpack she had had prepared in case of an emergency like this. She grabbed her wallet, motorcycle keys, and her red helmet.

A slam against the door made her heart skip a beat.

"I'm going to fucking kill you, you whore!"

Her father had recovered a lot faster than she thought he would.

Well, she'd need another way out then.

Looking to the window, she blinked, and ran for it without a second thought, tugging it open and tossing her backpack out of it onto the roof. For once she was grateful for how tiny she was as she sidled out of the small opening, picking up her backpack and dashing to the edge of the roof, putting the back on and then sliding down and over the edge until she was clinging to the gutters. She braced herself, then released her hands, dropping to the ground with a grunt.

She ran for the warehouse.

Jerking the door to the warehouse open she ran inside, putting her red helmet on and leaping on the bike, revving the engine. She could hear her father shouting from a few blocks away and popped a piece of gum in her mouth, chewing on it as she flipped down the visor and then revved one more time before blazing out of the warehouse. She let out a an excited shout as she sped past her father at 80 miles per hour, giving him the bird as she headed for the interstate. In that moment, she felt invincible.


	2. Electromagnetic Suspensions and Hair Dye

Leiko sighed and rolled her eyes as her roommate and best friend Wasabi stole her engineering textbook before setting a pile of pancakes with candles sticking out of them and a present down in front of her on their little dining table. Giving the other guy a frustrated and questioning look, she stood up from her chair and tried to grab her book back.

Wasabi grinned and dangled the book just out of her reach in response. If looks could kill, he would drop dead from the one Leiko gave him as she tried to jump for it a few times before giving up. He laughed as she stood there with her arms crossed, shaking his head. "Blow out the candles and open the present, and then I'll let you get back to your studying you nerd.

Blowing a strand of hair out of her face, she cringed and shook her head. "Yeah no, we're not doing this. As it is I'm mad at you for creeping into my folders and finding my birth certificate when we moved in together. I don't do birthdays. If I'd wanted to celebrate my birthday I would have told you the date in the first place." she muttered.

Wasabi arched an eyebrow in response, crossing his arms and giving the short, black haired girl an annoyed look as he plopped the physics book back onto the table. "Aww come on Gogo, it's your birthday! We gotta celebrate the day that you came into existence, especially since I didn't know you until your birthday had already passed last year!"

Her eyes narrowed at the nickname. "Not happening. And come on Wasabi, don't call me that. There _was_ a time in which you didn't like Fred's nickname for you before it just kind of stuck and we all started calling you that, but I refuse to let that happen to me too."

"Blah blah blah stop changing the subject. Just make a lil birthday wish and blow out the candles? Puhleaseeeeeee?" Wasabi begged.

Leiko was tempted to give in to Wasabi's pleas. After all, he was just trying to be a good friend, and she already made his life difficult as it was. When they'd moved in together after growing sick of dorm life, he found out the hard way that she had nightmares, and that loud noises in the middle of the night made her extremely anxious and terrified. He'd come into her room plenty of times in the middle of the night to make sure she was okay when she had cried out in her sleep, and when she would often try to isolate herself he would drag her out to the living room to watch Star Trek instead.

He'd never so much as tried to pry out of her why she acted the way she did, but simply did whatever he could to make her feel better.

Still…the short woman just did not want to have any stupid birthday candles and shit. "Wasabi, you know I hate presents, and I told you we're not celebrating my birthday. I just want to pretend this is any other day, eat breakfast, go to class, etcetera etcetera. The only thing I would even think of celebrating today is the fact that we finally have clearance to work in the lab and do some real science instead of all these boring introductory classes we've been taking."

Rubbing the back of his head, Wasabi sighed a bit and then grinned, face lighting up again.

"Fine! I guess we'll just have to celebrate 'First Day in the Lab' day instead! Now blow out the candles so you can make a wish, then eat your dang First Day in the Lab pancakes and open that present." he persisted, laughing a bit as Leiko groaned and flopped into the seat.

"If this will get you to shut that dumb face of yours up, fine." Leiko grumbled, taking in a deep breath and thinking for a moment. It wasn't like she believed in wishes or anything, hard work was what got her to where she was today. Closing her eyes, she blew out the candles and made a wish anyways.

_I wish I could just stop feeling broken…please just let this be the year I can finally heal. _

The lab was everything that Leiko had dreamed it would be. The industrial design and mechanical engineering equipment was amazing, and she could only imagine the creations she'd be able to create with it. There was already one specific engineering project she had spent the last few months drafting, and she had briefly worried that it was going to be too advanced to create in even San Fransokyo Tech's lab, but finally getting to work in the lab had alleviated all of her worries.

Each student got their very own station in the lab that no other student could work in except for them. The moment that Professor Callaghan had allowed them to have free reign in the laboratory, Leiko had headed right to her new second home and had gotten right to work on drawing up her plans for the electromagnetic suspension bike that she had been obsessed with for the last three months. It was nice to finally get to work on the damn thing, considering that she had been having dreams of riding it for weeks now.

She was wearing the new heavy bass headphones that Wasabi had bought her for her birthday and as a result couldn't hear shit. So she jumped about eight feet in the air when she felt a sudden tap on her shoulder, nearly dropping her design tablet and spinning around with wide eyes to see who had startled her.

It was Fred, of course, though he had somebody else with him. She was tall and blonde, bespectacled eyes filled with laughter while she held a hand over her mouth. The other one was holding a clear bottle of what looked like tea with a lemon slice in it. Fred's mouth was moving even though her headphones were still on, and Leiko rolled her eyes as she tugged her headphones off.

"Yo, dorky school mascot, if the jump in the air and shocked look didn't clue you in, my headphones were blasting and I didn't hear a word you said." she stated, sliding the headphones down to rest on her neck before crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

Fred just did his contagious laugh and she couldn't help but smirk a bit. "I wanted to say hi and congratulate you on finally being able to work in the lab. I also wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine, Wasabi already met her a while back at that party you bailed out of attending. GoGo, this is Honey Lemon. She's a chemistry major. Honey Lemon, this is Gogo." he said, doing grand gestures back and forth between the two of them and grinning.

"Fred, what did I say about that nickname? No matter how many people you introduce me to as 'GoGo,' it's just not going to stick." Leiko/GoGo grumbled, crossing her arms.

Honey Lemon, who had stayed silent up till that point, let out another laugh, one that GoGo could hear this time, and pushed her pink rimmed glasses up on her face a bit. "I don't think there's much you can do to resist being nicknamed by Fred. He literally knows everybody at the school. Besides, the name is kind of cute…it fits you." she stated with a wink that Fred failed to notice, smiling down at GoGo.

_Wait…did she just._

GoGo felt her cheeks growing hot and she avoided making eye contact with the blonde, instead looking over to Fred. The shaggy haired mascot was investigating her design plans for her bike, gesturing to it and looking back at Honey Lemon.

"Yeah see you agree! The nickname totally fits! Just look at these designs she's already put up even though it's only her first day in the lab. Electromagnetic bike with zero resistance. This girl has a hardcore need for speed, she's just gotta go-go everywhere as fast as she can. Well, that settles it, screw Leiko, you're definitely becoming GoGo for good now." Fred declared, grinning while GoGo just sighed in defeat.

Honey Lemon was still staring at her with an odd look in her eyes that was about to make GoGo straight up gogo right out of the lab and speed away on her motorcycle. She jumped in surprise when the blonde suddenly took ahold of her purple bangs and examined them, GoGo frozen in surprise. Nobody touched her without warning except for Fred and Wasabi, and even then she was weird about physical contact.

"…. yourself?" Honey Lemon questioned, rubbing the hair between her fingers and then running a hand through the rest of her hair.

GoGo struggled to find her voice. "Uhh…what?" she mumbled, distracted by the hand running through her hair, stomach twisting into a knot for some odd reason. Her mouth felt dry and she licked her lips a bit, scooting back once Honey Lemon let go of her hair.

Honey Lemon's lips twitched up just faintly in a knowing smile. "This section of your bangs, did you dye it yourself?" she repeated.

GoGo's eyebrows knitted together a bit and she frowned, giving a nod. "Umm..yeah. Why? Does it look shitty?" she asked, feeling a bit defensive.

Honey Lemon put her hands up slightly in front of herself and smiling again, shaking her head. "It doesn't look bad no, it's nice. But your hair does feel a bit damaged. I've actually been working on this dye formula that looks incredibly vibrant and also helps to repair hair that's been damaged by previous dye jobs. You see it's got to do with…"

She started talking about nanomolecules and molecular integrity and GoGo looked up at the intelligent woman in amazement, feeling her cheeks darken again.

"…but yeah, Wasabi invited Fred and I over for movie night tomorrow, said something about trying to get you to be more social, so maybe we can try the dye on you then!" Honey Lemon finished.

GoGo snapped out of her haze and her eyes went wide, reaching blindly behind her for her leather jacket, sliding it on before grabbing her helmet and backpack. "Y-yeah, soundsgoodseeyouthen!" she replied, shouting without realizing it before she fled for the lab exit, hopping on her motorcycle that she'd parked in the parking lot and then heading home.

Honey Lemon put a hand over her mouth, laughing as the sliding door to the lab closed and looking to Fred, who was grinning and laughing as well.

"I always forget that somebody who is so tiny can move so fast. But hey, what do you think? Cute and hot right? Told you Wasabi's roommate would totally be your type. Your wingman would never let you down. But you might want to try not making her run away next time." Fred stated, nudging Honey Lemon with his elbow.

Honey Lemon smiled and gave a little shrug. "I think the shyness is adorable."

GoGo groaned as Wasabi kept elbowing her in the ribs while they watched TV, shoving him in the side and grumbling.

"What happened huhhhh? Did somebody get your little heart go-going?" Wasabi teased, laughing as he was punched in the arm repeatedly in retaliation.

"You're such an asshole. I'm going to study." GoGo grumbled, getting up from the couch and heading to her room. She shut the door and then flopped face first onto her bed, sighing and closing her eyes.

She sat up and reached for her backpack to get her journal, feeling the need to vent her feelings, then froze, not feeling it when she reached into the bag. She dumped the whole thing out and sighed in annoyance, realizing she had forgotten it in the lab when she had run away earlier. Ugh, great, she'd have to wait till tomorrow to get it. Well, hopefully nobody would look at it. Sighing, she grabbed her chemistry textbook instead, deciding that maybe she would read it for once…


End file.
